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New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

economist.com

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Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#11

Post by gear54rus »

moepstar wrote: post #2

Name and shame the companies that use those techniques, then vote with your wallets and never buy their products again. This is a problem that will mostly solve itself, given enough time... Oh and never get tired to tell this to others, less technical folks why they shouldn't buy X from brand Y because Z, even if they don't fully understand why - tell them to give you a call, if in doubt...

>This is a problem that will mostly solve itself, given enough time...

It won't. In this sense it's just like openness in software. No matter how much crap and unacceptable 'features' MS pushes on people in win10 (as an example), its usage will not shrink and people will not boycott these power-hungry assholes.

Same with this, the right to repair is fundamental and cannot be taken away. Yet, most just don't care and it will be taken away eventually.

Educating our children and those who we love is probably the best shot at this but it's unlikely it will be enough.

Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#12

Post by Digit-Al »

edem wrote: post #6

How to get past the paywall?

Open the link in a Private Browser window. This will prevent the site from reading your cookies, so it will not know how many articles you have read. Either that or find and delete the relevant cookie.

Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#15

Post by type0 »

moepstar wrote: post #2

Name and shame the companies that use those techniques, then vote with your wallets and never buy their products again. This is a problem that will mostly solve itself, given enough time... Oh and never get tired to tell this to others, less technical folks why they shouldn't buy X from brand Y because Z, even if they don't fully understand why - tell them to give you a call, if in doubt...

> Oh and never get tired to tell this to others, less technical folks why they shouldn't buy X from brand Y because Z, even if they don't fully understand why

The thing is no one will listen and your non tech friends will call you a whining nerd

Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#16

Post by type0 »

gear54rus wrote: post #11
moepstar wrote: post #2

Name and shame the companies that use those techniques, then vote with your wallets and never buy their products again. This is a problem that will mostly solve itself, given enough time... Oh and never get tired to tell this to others, less technical folks why they shouldn't buy X from brand Y because Z, even if they don't fully understand why - tell them to give you a call, if in doubt...

>This is a problem that will mostly solve itself, given enough time... It won't. In this sense it's just like openness in software. No matter how much crap and unacceptable 'features' MS pushes on people in win10 (as an example), its usage will not shrink and people will not boycott these power-hungry assholes. Same with this, the right to repair is fundamental and cannot be taken away. Yet, most just don't care and…

> Same with this, the right to repair is fundamental and cannot be taken away. Yet, most just don't care and it will be taken away eventually.

Therefore what helps is to encourage civil disobedience, unfortunately even that is illegal in many places.

Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#17

Post by falcolas »

moepstar wrote: post #2

Name and shame the companies that use those techniques, then vote with your wallets and never buy their products again. This is a problem that will mostly solve itself, given enough time... Oh and never get tired to tell this to others, less technical folks why they shouldn't buy X from brand Y because Z, even if they don't fully understand why - tell them to give you a call, if in doubt...

Ok: Tesla. Your vehicle runs at the sufference of Tesla, and that right can be revoked.

Not that I think most people will care that Tesla owns the car they just bought.

Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#18

Post by throwaway2016a »

Given the choice I always go with more open...

- I have an Android because their app ecosystem is more open.

- I have an Amazon Echo because you can write your own skills for it.

- I have a Vera for home automation instead of those "Smart Hubs" because it runs Linux and I can SSH into it.

- My Firewall is a homebuilt box running pfSense

- etc

But I have long given up on the idea of being able to open up any of my consumer electronics and hack away at them.

Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#19

Post by fenwick67 »

westmeal wrote: post #14

Wait does this mean I was committing a crime when fixing game consoles and laptops? No way...

Depends on what you're doing.

If you had to, for example, re-flash the firmware on a PS3, you probably broke the law. If you replaced the eject button, you didn't.

You only violate DMCA if you break some form of "copyright protection" mechanism.

Re: New technology is eroding your right to tinker with things you own

#20

Post by gumby »

falcolas wrote: post #17
moepstar wrote: post #2

Name and shame the companies that use those techniques, then vote with your wallets and never buy their products again. This is a problem that will mostly solve itself, given enough time... Oh and never get tired to tell this to others, less technical folks why they shouldn't buy X from brand Y because Z, even if they don't fully understand why - tell them to give you a call, if in doubt...

Ok: Tesla. Your vehicle runs at the sufference of Tesla, and that right can be revoked. Not that I think most people will care that Tesla owns the car they just bought.

> Not that I think most people will care that Tesla owns the car they just bought.

I think you meant "paid for" not bought.

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